Friday preview: Severn Trent, Blacks Leisure

28th May 2009 16:21

After results from United Utilities today it is the turn of fellow water company Severn Trent to publish its last set of full-year results tomorrow before the draft determination of the Ofwat periodic review of the industry gets published.Market consensus is for pre-tax profit of £278m on turnover of £1,614m. The full-year dividend is expected to be pushed up to 68.1p from 65.63p last year, giving a yield of 6%. The company is committed to raising dividends by 3% above inflation until March 2010.The share price of outdoor clothing and camping equipment retailer Blacks Leisure slipped at the end of March after bid talks fell through, but the share price recovered during April, only to slide back again towards the end of May, despite the sunny weather the country has been enjoying.The company said earlier this week it was in discussions with Lloyds Banking Group regarding a financial structure that would enable it to more swiftly get rid of the albatross that is its loss-making boardwear business while accelerating the development of the Outdoor store portfolio.The identity of the parties interested in acquiring the company have never been disclosed, though it is interesting to note that Sports Direct International, the sportswear company run by Newcastle United chairman Mike Ashley, has a 29.9% stake in Blacks. Sports Direct announced today it has offloaded its 4.8% stake in fellow sportswear retailer JJB Sports, which could be revive bid speculation regarding Blacks.INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEF&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd., Foresight Technology VCT, Mouchel Group, SwallowfieldQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEBankers Inv Trust, City of London Inv TrustFINALSBaltic Oil Terminals, Blacks Leisure, Caffyns, Severn Trent, SThree, VPAGMSAcenciA Debt Strategies Ltd., Alternative Energy, Argo Group, Bloomsbury Publishing, Dragon-Ukrainian Properties & Development, Endeavour International Corp, Mariana Resources, Premier Oil, WalcomFINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEAXA Property Trust, BPP Holdings, CBG Group, City Natural Resources High Yield Trust, Fidelity European Values, Fresnillo, Gaming VC Holdings, H.R. Owen, Henderson Group, Inmarsat, Keller Group, Lincat Group, New Britain Palm Oil Limited, New City High Yield Fund Ltd., North Midland Construction, Patsystems, Portmeirion, Public Service Properties Investments, Regus, Senior, Standard Life, XchangingUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSNationwide House PricesINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSGDP (US) (13:30)Personal Consumption (US) (13:30)GDP Implicit Price Deflator (US) (13:30)Core PCE (US) (13:30)Chicago PMI (US) (14:45)University of Michigan Consumer Confidence (US) (15:00)Producer Prices (FRA) (07:45)Jobless Rate (JPN)Household Spending (JPN)CPI (JPN)Industrial Production (JPN)Construction Orders (JPN)